Watercress

[TurqoiseJasper]

Why is this impossible to find in any supermarket or greengrocer???
I'm craving a watercress salad and can't find it anywhere!!!

What, and where, is Evergreen? Within Dublin and I might be willing to travel 😁

https://www.neighbourfood.ie/producers/noinin-organic-herb--vegetable-farm/24818

@TurquoiseJasper any farmer's markets near you? This guy is in Clare but sells at markets.

Our local neighbourfood closed after covid. I must try the English Market.

https://evergreen.ie/pages/stores

You can order online too

Great, thanks @honeyrider! Too far for a drop in, so will order for delivery 😃

The Irish for cress is Biolar. Mumsnet is educational...

Omg !!! Ordering NOW! x

Go raibh maith agat @Abhannmor ! Ta an focla nua!
When I write my shopping lists I try and write it in Irish and for all green things I just put glasrai. You have raised my game.

And it's an actual Irish word from Gaeilge @Villagetoraiseachild . Whereas many foodie words seem to be loan words?

I looked in Fergus Kelly's books on Early Irish Law and early Irish Farming to see what they said about watercress - it was mentioned a few times as the thing monks got to eat when they were fasting.

They also drank hot water, which was interesting - our national passion for tea was built on a solid foundation. That also made me wonder whether the Lough Derg pilgrimage thing of having hot water to drink might have been rooted in a really early medieval practice.

When I saw the thread title on craicnet I had a brief little moment of excitement that Dan Donnelly and Brian Acton were getting the band back together, then realised you were talking about salad. Bummer.
Watercress is nice though.

Must check out Fegus Kelly.

And this band!

Are you anywhere near the border? Sainsburys (mostly) has it if you are. But yes marks and spencer have stopped selling it here too. I've resorted to growing my own in a wet patch of the garden (doesn't have to be flowing water). It does start off looking like cress but then it splits into these beautiful peppery leaves.... yum! (And better tasting than the shop bought stuff)

Is it easy to grow? How do you grow it? I might give it a go as I've sometimes spotted recipes that include it and never seen it on it's own.

Thanks for this thread - off the back of it I've now ordered watercress seeds, cress seeds, and two fig trees :)

Who knew😂 the number of times I've enquired about watercress and nobody has known what I've been talking about!

GRMA a Abhannmor - or whatever the tuiseal gairmeach of Abhannmor is

Biolar crops up in placenames - Billeragh in Co. Kerry is from An Bhiolrach, 'the place abounding in watercress'. And Watergrasshill in Co. Cork should really be WaterCRESShill, it's Cnocán na Biolraí, the hill of the watercress, in Irish.
So that proves that it is an indigenous and historically-valued plant. Irish placenames are treasure-troves of social history like that.
As somebody once said - 'Mumsnet - every day is a school day'

ASDA Preston - it's the coarse peppery stuff. Not that dainty, weedy "grass" in those naff little plastic boxes. Cheers.

That's actually really interesting!

GRMA @MarieDeGournay - that's fascinating!

I keep meaning to update this thread to say the watercress beds near me were harvested last week! I'm in Hampshire (watercress capital of the world, apparently) but if it doesn't start showing up in your local supermarket I'll stick some in the post to you OP 😆

Watercress clique developing 😀going on tour to Hampshire via Preston.
Watergrasshill...that makes more sense if it is Watercresshill.
I love a garnish of tiny cress on my ploughman's...retro!

Hampshire is so associated with watercress that the local heritage railway line - steam engines and all that - is called The Watercress Line, it used to bring fresh watercress up to London in the 19th century.
Yes, you're right, my head IS full of trivia, from placenames to heritage railway lines! I don't know how I got this way, I just attract random facts like newly-polished surfaces attract dust particles

There was someone in front of me at the checkout in a north Munster Lidl with one of those mixed bags of greens including watercress. I was slightly tempted to slip back and get one, but remembered how much I dislike rocket, and how delicious the nasturtium and sorrel currently coming on in the garden are, and refrained. But it might be worth checking out.

I dont see the point of rocket. I can't swallow it which is apparently a side effect of aging.
Watercress on the other hand is glorious. Im going to be in the North in a few weeks and will check out Sainsburys.